Desiderata for a History of Austrian Sexualities

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Bunzl

The history of sexuality is a recent field. As a domain of scholarly inquiry, it emerged in the late 1970s, partially the outgrowth of women's history and partially the product of the lesbian/gay movement. Its foundational text is the first volume of Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality, published in French in 1976 and translated into English two years later. This is among the rare books that are truly pathbreaking, taking what was regarded as a “natural” phenomenon and showing its deep historicity.

Author(s):  
Marilyn Booth

This chapter juxtaposes Fawwaz’s use of female biography with selected works by male contemporaries that include biographies or mention of famous women. These comprise a treatise on marriage by Hamza Fathallah; a translation of a French history of ancient Egypt focusing on women, authored by Georges Paturet and translated by ‘Ali Jalal; a history of pre-Islamic women by Habib al-Zayyat al-Dimashqi; and a marriage and conduct manual for young men, by Husayn Fawzi. They all differ markedly from Fawwaz’s dictionary, in emphasis and subject choice. It is fascinating that several Arab male intellectuals of the late 19th century wrote on the ancient history of women in the region, but what kinds of messages did their works yield?


2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 466a-466a
Author(s):  
Noga Efrati

The history of the women's movement in Iraq before 1958 has received little attention in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. Moreover, when surveying the brief accounts in secondary sources, one is struck by their inconsistency. Upon closer examination, two historiographical approaches emerge. One primarily follows the development of women's activities sanctioned by the regime, focusing on organizations and activists associated with the Iraqi Women's Union, established in 1945. The second approach traces developments and organizations linked with the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, founded in 1952. This essay argues that members of the rival union and league constructed two competing narratives in presenting the history of the women's movement in pre-1958 Iraq. The article unpacks these two different narratives as they were originally articulated by activists in order to piece together a more elaborate portrayal of the evolution of the early Iraqi women's movement. The essay also explores how scholars have reproduced these narratives, arguing that both activists and researchers were active participants in a “war of narratives” that left women's history the unfortunate casualty


1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (109) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret MacCurtain ◽  
Mary O’Dowd

In the last twenty years women’s history has emerged as a major field of scholarly inquiry. An extensive literature has accumulated on the history of women in western Europe and North America, and the contribution which women have made to many different aspects of western society has been rediscovered. New areas of study have been developed as the gender differences in men’s and women’s lives have been recognised and researched. The expanding secondary literature has also led to a lively debate about the purpose, methodology and theory of women’s history. A central focus of discussion has been the relationship between women’s history and mainstream history. Initially research on the history of women tended to work within the parameters of traditional history: to be fitted into its ‘empty spaces’. But dissatisfaction with the male-centred and patriarchal nature of the predominant historical discourse has led women historians to seek out new methodologies and to argue that consideration of history from the perspective of women, as well as of men, is a major challenge to the whole nature of historical inquiry. As Gerda Lerner, a pioneer of women’s history in the United States, put it, women’s history challenges the traditional assumption that man is the measure of all that is significant, and that the activities pursued by men are by definition significant, while those pursued by women are subordinate in importance. It challenges the notion that civilization is that which men have created, defended, and advanced while women had babies and serviced families and to which they, occasionally and in a marginal way, ‘contributed’.


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